Scoop du Jour: The Value Of 75 Simoleons!

on: May 15, 2015

-by Scoop

May 15, 2015 — Michele Bachmann, a former member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Minnesota who also sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Presidential election in 2012, claimed recently that President Obama’s policies on Iran will lead to the Biblical end of times. If that happens that will surely be good news for those waiting for ‘The Rapture’, but her comment reminded me of an e-mail I received about something I wrote recently.

So Here’s The Scoop: As some people believe about that former ‘Congress-Critter’ from MN – from time to time readers of ‘Scoop du Jour’ are convinced that I, too, have surely lost my frickin’ mind. For example, a couple of weeks ago I asserted that a developer can attract qualified sales guests in 2015 for “a cost of $75.00.” That claim was challenged by an industry ‘heavyweight’ who e-mailed me and insisted, in no uncertain terms: “…so prove it…”

Hence – I’ve decided to accept that challenge and will give it a shot this week.

But first a caveat: By my saying “a cost of $75.00” I was referring to $75 in cash for a sales guest as opposed to all the other gifts and/or premiums marketing folks dangle out ‘there’, especially OPC’s hoping to lure prospects to attend a TS presentation.

Additionally, to make my point I want readers to keep in mind a recent quote by the author Upton Sinclair as presented in our GateHouse Timeshare Blog under the “Idle Thoughts” heading, as it may support my case: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

That passage may be applicable to many of the ‘deciders’ in our industry because most are very well compensated (rightfully so) – but their incomes may confuse their perception of time and money when compared to their sales guests’ points of view regarding such matters.

With that said, to many ‘deciders’ $75.00 is chump change. It’s an amount of loot barely worthy of their consideration. Heck, they can’t even go out and enjoy a fine dinner for two on $75, make it all the way to the 19th hole, or get their hair styled, etc.

But for a huge percentage of their target market (aka: sales guests) $75.00 is nothing to sneeze at. As just one example, reports from the USA government tell us that the ‘average’ hourly rate for a working stiff is about $25.00.

To put that another way, there are millions of workers who dedicate 40 hours each week at their jobs to generate that kind of hourly scratch. They, apparently, see the value and willingly exchange their time and talents for a $25 hourly wage.

And you can rest assured that there are millions upon millions more workers in the USA who hope and/or pray for a raise to $25 per hour instead of their current hourly wage of (e.g.) $21, $17, $14, $11 or $8.

Now that is the raw data and ought to be an indication of what potential sales guests are more than willing to endure each hour for just 25 clams – especially considering the large percentage of people who really don’t like their jobs in the first place!

And so here comes (e.g.) a married couple walking up to the corner of Paradise Blvd. and Rainbow Avenue (somewhere) and an OPC approaches them hoping to persuade the duo to attend a ’90 minute informative’ timeshare sales presentation.

To keep this short the OPC does what they do best and then it comes time to dangle some trinkets – but now it’s only going to be cash and at this point the OPC slowly pulls out a wad of greenbacks containing 7 ten-spots ($10 bills) and one five-spot ($5 bill) on the bottom.

Then, as the OPC slowly lays down the first, then the second and the third ten-spot he/she says something like: “…and for your brief 90 minutes of time folks you’ll earn not $10 – not $20 – not $30 – not $40 – not $50, not even $60 or $70 – (now laying down now the five-spot) – but $75.00 CASH TODAY. And I mean that folks. It’s all yours and you can use the smackers any way your hearts desire.”

Since the cabbage may be equal to 3 hours of a prospect’s labor (w/no paycheck deductions) I’m pretty darn sure that if done properly and laid out neatly the potential sales guests will lean in and have their eyes fixated on the lettuce.

Sort of like most people walking down the street who spot a C-note on the sidewalk – just about everyone of us will screech to a halt like the Road Runner cartoon character roaring down the Camino, bend over, pick up the dough – and off we go – Beep Beep!

Laying out cold hard cash is pure theater; doing it properly is absolutely mesmerizing and conjures unlimited notions in the prospects’ minds as to what they will do with their windfall.

Premiums including dollar-valued gift cards, etc. are fine and dandy but they mostly come with a personal appeal and/or desire, want and need assessment, etc. as well as other conditions, requirements and/or restrictions.

And because that is all true, as an inducement CASH is freedom from all the fuss and muss and can be used at-will, 24/7, anywhere, everywhere and at any time!

CASH, dare I say, stimulates the strongest appeal to most people and CASH is extremely difficult to walk away from (turn down) because in the minds of most folks Moola Is ‘King’!

I’m sure there are some jurisdictions in the U.S.A., etc. where giving cash as a premium is not, under the law, permissible.

But in places like Mexico they have been doing it for decades.

The problem there is they are giving as much as $500 (hard cash) per ‘tour’ just to get ‘em in the door and they are paying that much for all the reasons I won’t go into today other than to suggest the ‘deciders’ there, perhaps like their counterparts elsewhere, and unlike the vast majority of their sales guests – don’t appreciate or understand the value of 75 Simoleons!

Contributing sometimes extravagant, bombastic, emotional, pompous or even pretentious writings about the timeshare industry, Scoop covers an array of industry related subjects each week including inside information, tips, scandals, interviews, forecasts as well as new (good or bad) products and services — and, of course, all the ‘Good’, the ‘Bad’ and the ‘Ugly’.

10 Comments

Van_The_Man

“And you can rest assured that there are millions upon millions more workers in the USA who hope and/or pray for a raise to $25 per hour instead of their current hourly wage of (e.g.) $21, $17, $14, $11 or $8.

Yeah, and there countless Developers who still allow tours who can’t afford the program to flat-out waste the time of salespeople in spite of that immutable fact.

The problem is that salespeople are free labor: haul the “courtesy tour” so you can also ‘hope and pray’ for a deal–and ‘hope and pray’ they don’t kick when they come out of the ether and realize what they’ve committed to.

Developers: Some are good–and way too many are the bain of the Industry. It’s the old story. You can’t live with ’em–and you can’t live without ’em.

4. You WILL determine if you see the value & like, can use and afford the vacationing plan you’ll be offered today based solely on its merits and though you are not required to purchase anything you WILL make a yes or no decision upon the conclusion of the sales presentation.

5. You WILL, before accepting this invitation, agree that a quality vacationing lifestyle is important to you, your family and that you are more likely to preplan and budget your annual (or every other year) vacations and that doing so does not include camping or pitching a tent in the back yard, staying with relatives for free, or mooching someone else’s timeshare plan.

Robin

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